


A Tale Of Two Cities

by orphan_account



Category: Original Work, Steampunk - Fandom, cyberpunk - Fandom
Genre: Ari is a messenger, Corrupt Governments, Dystopian Future, Juno is kind of sketchy, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rhody is an archivist, Sci-Fi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-12
Updated: 2015-03-12
Packaged: 2018-03-17 14:03:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3532031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is just a little something based on some roleplaying and co-writing me and my friend did. It's not fandom-related but I will be updating sometimes, usually to break up my writer's block.<br/>Enjoy!</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Tale Of Two Cities

Cole woke up with a jolt.  It was just before dawn, the sirens sounding in the distance. Looking around the room, he noticed his sister’s bed was empty. As usual, actually. She was always gone during the night, only to reappear as if nothing had happened. That was Juno to everybody. She was a creator, and every so often Cole had his suspicions that she wasn’t just that.

He stretched and looked up, only to see the CCTV camera disconnected. A smile crawled onto his face as his theory was proved right yet again. Yep, Juno alright. She was by far the best hacker this side of the cyberwall. Maybe even in the whole of the city. He ran his fingers through his dark ginger hair, matted slightly with quicksilver.

‘Right.’, he thought to himself. ‘She’s out. And I have a job to do.’

He smiled at the thought. At last, something to do.

A loud thud stopped him in his tracks. A girl of about 25 years of age, with fluorescent pink hair and electric green wires running through her bionic suit had just fallen from the roof. She stood up quickly and brushed some quicksilver off her clothes before smirking slightly at Cole.

“Hey there lil’ brother!” She called out cheerfully. Cole grunted a ‘hello’ and turned away. She might be back, but that usually meant trouble. And he had a job to do. “I’m only three years younger than you, Juno. Stop being so childish. I have work today.”

She grinned in response. “I know. I’m coming with you.”

Cole sighed, slightly annoyed. Why did she have to follow him? He was nearly 22 years old by this society’s standards. She was 25, and followed him relentlessly. Until dusk, that is. They always parted at dusk and she would disappear, only to emerge at about midnight in their room. And then go again at about 2A.M.  He had gotten quite used to this pattern by now, but always regretted his inability to ask deceiving questions. The damned microchip.  How he hated it. It prevented all citizens of the cybercity from lying or asking about things they didn’t need to know. And he had many questions to ask his sister. Where she disappeared to, what happened to all the objects she would find, what she actually was. Cole wanted information. Unfortunately, this was prohibited by the Mayor. The Mayor had control over the chips.

Instead of questioning her, he just sighed. She always got her way, not only because she was older, but because of another stupid feature on the chip. The Alpha feature. The feature that made his sister the Alpha and him the Beta. It was supposed to make things easier for everyone, but instead it just complicated lives. He couldn’t go against her, fight her will or even leave her vicinity for over 48 hours. It was always the eldest sibling who got this privilege.

At least he wasn’t a single child. Those were marked with a theta, the sign of Thanatos. The symbol of death. Thetas were brought up in community centers until they came of age. After that, they were never seen again.

Juno threw his jacket at him. Black synthetic material, cool to the touch and very stretchy. Perfect for anyone working with electronics.

“Come on, Cole! I thought you had a job to do!”

Cole cursed under his breath. The job. Of course. He threw the CCTV camera a last lingering glance and trudged into the bathroom to change.

“Juno, I’m going to be late back. Don’t wait up.” He waited, hoping for her to reply in the way he wanted her to. But Juno was unpredictable.

“Actually, I was going to say exactly the same thing. Don’t wait for me. I should be back by tomorrow.”

‘Tomorrow?’, he thought, suddenly very much awake and slightly alarmed.

“I know what you’re thinking, Cole. Probably want to ask ‘why tomorrow?’ but I’m not going to answer that.”

She looked sad. He never could understand how and why her moods changed so quickly. One moment she was about to go on an adventure, the next she was breaking down and crying in the corner. He felt a sudden urge to lie down again, to give up. Fuck the job.

Instead, his mouth began to form words.

“Juno” he asked “Do you know anything about a guy named Daniel Hatchett?”

She stopped in her tracks and quickly shook her head. Too quick to disagree, he thought. This all seemed quite suspicious. Then again, when was the last time something didn’t?

Juno looked over her shoulder, eyebrows raised in a question that needed an immediate answer. Cole suddenly realized he didn’t know why he had asked about this Daniel person, and why the chip had allowed him to ask. It seemed for a moment as if someone else had taken control of him for a moment.

“Forget it, sis.” He looked down at the metal tiles, then back up at her. “We’d better go, if I’m going to be on time.”

She flicked her hair out of her face and grinned.

“Whatever you say, Cole, whatever you say”

They walked out of their living compartments, leaving behind a feeling of slight unease. The CCTV camera was still off, the red light glaring at the empty room.

 

Rhody was waiting impatiently for Ari. It had been ages since she went into the clock tower to talk to Edwardson, and Rhody was never one to wait. Edwardson was one of the more well-known black market smugglers, and if anyone wanted anything from anywhere, he was the guy to ask. If you could find him, that is.

Ari was supposed to go and deliver a package to him in return for nutrition packs, alcohol or weaponry. It would all depend on today’s catch. Rhody turned her head lazily just in time to witness her friend appear from around the corner, nutrition packets in hand a a strange bulge in her messenger bag.

"I still haven’t a clue what that goddamn contraption you gave me is supposed to be for. I might get an idea at some point, thought. You may be a pretty makeshift archivist, but believe me, you were worse as a mechanic." She stuck out her tongue at her friend, who was the perfect display of mock-offense and tragic suffering, then shifted in a little closer. "Guess what?"

 

Rhody smiled mischievously. "I'm guessing. Carry on."

She too shifted a little closer.

Ari whipped her head round, checking if anyone was looking. The few other people had no interest in a blue-haired mechanic/archivist and a messenger. People like them were a common sight.

"Ok, look. I found this by the wall."

She opened her messenger bag and took out a big chunky box with a flap on the front and a shiny disc.  
Rhody's face displayed no obvious interest, but her body stiffened.

"If that's what I think it is...." 

"So you recognize it too!”

“Yeah, from the archives. It's what was supposedly called a DVD player"

 

Ari’s eyes were shining bright. "I'm still a little confused by it but I think I've almost figured it out." Ari spoke fast, excited. "It needs electricity, but I found an old extension cable and we might be able to pass it through the wall to someone who will be willing to take a bribe. If we find a volunteer, they could somehow hook it up to the power lines in Obsidian." 

 

Ari looked up at Rhody expectantly. Obsidian was the term most people from Gold used instead of the proper name for the town inside the wall.

 

The city of Obsidian resided within black walls that shone with a forcefield that was only switched off once a month for maintenance. At that time of month, tall figures dressed in dark skinsuits would appear and stand on top of the wall, guarding it from the population of Gold.

The city of Gold was in actual fact not a city, but a slum-like town named ironically after the rare earth metal. Makeshift houses stretched across rooftops and abandoned towers that could’ve once been held in the highest esteem, housing people like a body does a disease; unwilling, giving in slowly. Gold was the electricity-less city where the night began early and dawn rose with a cloud of smog.

While Obsidian was darkness incarnated, throbbing and pulsating with unseen life, Gold was an anthill. People were everywhere- survival was the only motivation for many. The black market thrived in the underbelly of the great beast that crawled with people like lice crawl in the thick fur of a hungry dog. Electrical components often found themselves tossed around like unwanted children, only these babies had a price. Food was a luxury that many people could barely afford, so it wasn’t a surprise to swap goods or favours for nutrition packets. If you had enough, even a member of Obsidian might be tempted to help out.    

 

Rhody, of course, knew all this. In her time she had been involved at either end of such a trade.  A quick nod towards Ari was all that she could muster in her moment of inspiration.

"We have to get to Pudge. He'll know the safest way to get through to the city."

 

Pudge was their mutual friend, a brilliant inventor and a better mechanic than most. He moved around, but currently inhabited one of the block towers in the old city centre of Gold, back when it was an actual city rather than a communal ground for the poor and outcast.

 

Ari smiled. "Yes! He can help me work out the last bit to work this damn thing."Saying this, she veered off of the main road (If you could call dirt paths and alleyways ‘roads’) and began picking her way through the junk pile that separated them from the towers. 

"Wait up!" Rhody ran after her, latching onto Ari’s bag to stop her friend from disappearing into the labyrinthine streets of rubbish and pestilence.  

They soon came to towering building in which, somewhere way up in the middle, stood Pudge's workshop. Rhody could see that not many people frequented this particular block, which was a shock counting the overcrowded towers around them.

 ** _  
_** She grimaced, feeling a wave of discomfort come over her body as soon as she saw the floor they supposed he lived.

 "Maybe he's out. After all, he has a full-time job."

Ari frowned. She stepped forward boldly and knocked on the door.

A noise that was most definitely locks being opened sounded and Pudge pulled open the door looking sleepy.

"Ari? Rhody?" He pushed a mop of messy hair out of his eyes and yawned. "Come in, I must have fallen asleep, I was just working on something."

Pudge (Short for Pulchellus, shortened by Ari who decided that it sounded pretentious) shook his head drowsily while stepping out of the way to let them in. Ari beamed at Rhody.

"Ha."

Rhody shrugged, her smile twisting into a grim smirk. "I just said that he probably was out, not that it was a bad idea to come here. But let's get this "CD player" thing sorted out" 

They walked in. Ari glanced around at the mess, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

"God, what the hell have you been working on?"

Pudge slumped down onto an old sofa.

"Stuff." He replied nonchalantly. Rhody sat down next to him and stretched out as if the place was hers.

"What sort of 'stuff'? The normal kind? Or..." She grinned. "...Stuff we could use?"

 

Ari strolled over to the cluttered work bench and swept a load of rubbish, some strange machine parts and a handful of tools out of the way before setting down her messenger bag, full of letters, parcels and odd bits of machinery that Rhody just couldn’t quite put together, as good a mechanic she used to be before changing jobs to become a makeshift archivist. Ari grinned. "Look what I found."

Pudge got up, scratched his stubble and lit a cigarette.

"Pretty good."

"That's all you have to say? C'mon Pudge, we know you. Where's your excitement gone?” exclaimed Ari, suddenly quite hurt by her friend’s disinterest in something that could’ve cost her her life.

“I’d take my best bet and say his enthusiasm went somewhere along with the alcohol from last night." Rhody walked over to the window, pointing out a couple of empty bottles. Ari sighed.

 

"Down here."  Ari stood in the bathroom, an empty bottle in each hand. Pudge chuckled and yanked the bottle from Ari's hand.

"THAT is none of your business, however this equipment is mighty interesting. Do you not know what it does? Where'd you get it from?" He looked up at Rhody, the cigarette hanging from his lips the whole time.

 

"Don't ask me. I didn't find it. Ari did." Rhody, getting annoyed at the ash drifting down onto the floor, pulled the cigarette from his lips and threw it out of the window.

"And can we ask you  _how_  on earth did you manage to drink 3 bottles of whisky alone? Omitting the fact that’s it’s expensive and all, one wouldn’t just waste everything unless they’re insane!"

 

 "Aha. It takes something that makes you happy when you stay up for three days without sleep." Pudge said. "So what's with the DVD player?" He turned to Ari.

 

"Weeeell, I found it and Rhody and I were wondering if you could help us bribe someone from the cybercity to connect an extension cable into their power supply."

 

"Mmm..." Pudge mused and took a sip from a random mug that he picked up off of the floor. 

 

Rhody sighed "How old is  _that_ you happen to be holding? Anyway, back to the point. Can you get us inside Obsidian? Maybe when it’s downtime, at the changing of the guard."

 

The changing of the guard was a reference to the security services changing shifts. It was famously known that during this time any illegal electronic happenstances went virtually undetected; the whole city would be without any security for at least 24 hours., which was more than enough to conduct a quick transaction and plug in a device. However, Pudge grimaced.

 

"We can't possibly get inside the city of cyber unless you have a death wish, however we can arrange something. I have a radio which I haven't come round to using because it needs batteries and obviously they're in great demand, illegal as they be here. But we get some and I can send out a message. There's always someone willing to do something for a deal."

Ari smiled wide. "Great!" 

Rhody smiled too, but her smile was slightly edgy.

 "What if," she paused "I had a death wish. I wouldn't mind going inside the city." 

Pudge's eyebrows raised. He suddenly became cold and turned away.

"It can't be done. I'm sorry."

Ari looked sadly at Rhody. Rhody simply turned to Ari, mouthing something across the room before looking at Pudge.

"You just said you could. What changed your mind? The Obsidian can’t be that scary. We could get some skinsuits-"

 

 

Pudge looked both sad and angry at the same time. "Enough!"

He held up his left hand which was missing two fingers. "You think this happens for nothing?!" Ari wondered why she hadn't noticed it before. He turned away once again, muttering coldly.

"I think it's time you should leave."

 

Rhody was about to say something that she would later regret, but was pulled towards the door by Ari. She looked back one last time before walking out of the apartment.

 

Ari gazed sadly up at Rhody's face.

"I think it's best not to ask him about it" She paused. "We can still find those batteries though... can't we?"

Rhody threw her a reassuring grin.

"Sure we can. An archivist and a messenger together? Psh, it'll be easy."

Ari smiled from the side of her mouth. "Come on, let’s go. Our pretty boy can deal with his own problems. We don’t need him"

She started back down the thick iron riveted stairwell. Rhody looked sad.

 "He doesn’t like to admit it, but he needs us." 

 

Ari shook her head. "Lack of sleep causes him to... get like this." She turned back to the stairs again. 

 

"You speak as if you knew him for years before I did. Do I have to remind you who introduced you two to each other? Yours truly. I know he gets like this when he’s sleep deprived, but he seems more than just tired. Something’s going on."

 

Rhody walked down the curled staircase, taking care not to touch the banisters. Ari glanced back at the workshop before following Rhody down the stairs. She stepped outside into the hazy air and inhaled the familiar smell of metal, engine oil, and something she couldn’t quite put her finger on; it tasted like thunder. Electricity.

 

The smoke curled around them like a nosy animal. Most of the smells and the smog were from the centre of Gold, but today was body burning day. Thick, black clouds gathered above the clock tower.

"Ew. The smog's thicker than usual today."

Rhody shuddered with revulsion and carried on walking. Ari tucked her bag under her shoulder and caught up with Rhody.

"Where do you think we could get batteries?"

"The marketplace? I don't know. Maybe the elder archivist has some."

“You mean Daniel Hatchett?”

Rhody cocked her head to one side and confirmed her friend’s suspicions with a nod.

“Yes. The only Theta to have ever regained their memory.”


End file.
